Centre urged to hand over sports facilities to provinces

PESHAWAR: All sports facilities currently under Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) should be handed over to provinces as per the 18th Constitutional Amendment because the provinces have the right to such facilities after the devolution of the Sports Ministry at the federal level.

This was stated by former KP sports minister and Senior Vice President of the Pakistan Olympic Federation Syed Aqil Shah while addressing a press conference here on Monday while accompanied by President of KP Hockey Syed Zahir Shah, Secretary Hidayatullah, Secretary KP Badminton Association Amjad Khan and Aamir Sabir advocate were also present.

The government of Pakistan is engaged in saving money because of the present-day financial crunch in the country, so why not all such facilities currently under the PSB should be handed over to the provinces rather than spending millions of rupees on their maintenance, pointed out Syed Aqil Shah.

Aqil Shah, who is also president of the KP Olympic Association, demanded Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to play his role in issuing a notification to hand over all facilities under PSB to the provinces according to the 18th Amendment.

Aqil Shah said that KP players were being affected due to the non-provision of sports facilities that are under the PSB in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “It is illegal to save money from sports and give funds to other departments,” he said.

“We are playing our role in the promotion and development of sports by spending money from our own pockets while on the other hand, PSB authorities are imposing charges on sportsmen and sportswomen, which is not justified,” Aqil Shah said and suggested that money being spent on the facilities should be given to the associations and federations so that they could work hard and find out new talent at the grassroots level.

He said that construction work is going on at the Qayyum Sports Complex football ground, including the Tartan Track, and other places, which certainly affect the overall preparation of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa contingent for the forthcoming 34th National Games to be scheduled on May 15 at Quetta, Balochistan.